It is well recognized that certain animals, such as cats, are prone to play with all manner of toys and play equipment, particularly if such equipment emulates natural prey of the animal, thereby arousing the hunter instinct which is especially prevalent in cats, for example.
Inasmuch as cats, by way of an illustration, are born hunters it is axiomatic that an animated bait readily captures a cat's attention and provides an interactive play and exercise experience for the animal. The degree to which a particular play occupation may endure for the animal, depends largely on the nature of the activity involved and the degree of interest generated in the animal.
One simple cat toy utilizes a single linear spring wire having a cat attractive bait fastened to one end thereof while the opposite end is hand held by a person and manipulated in a manner to tempt the cat to play with the toy bait. A device of this general nature is the subject matter of a U.S. Pat. No. D295,798, issued May 17, 1988. While such hand held toys of that or similar nature are known and have proven fairly successful in attracting and fascinating pets, the degree of animation of the bait is limited by the capability of the human operator to manipulate the single wire spring in a myriad of gyrations capable of maintaining the pet's interest. Also, the availability of the toy to the pet depends upon the presence and disposition of a persons hand to play with the pet.
Recognizing the aforenoted limitation of hand-held toys, the device of this invention, while employing a bait supporting linear wire spring as one component, utilizes an overall dual spring system that provides greatly increased movement activity with a greater scope of random action and animation than in heretofore known pet toys. It may be animated from rest by the pet swatting the bait which action stresses the wire spring which, in turn, actuates the coil spring so that the composite system springs into action. The wire spring, when stressed by bending, activates the coil which in turn, when stressed by bending, activates the wire spring. Thus, the elements of pseudo perpetual motion are present.